Today was our first full day in Ingwavuma! Or, as it should probably be spelled, iNgwavuma. But I'm going to be a terrible American and spell it like it is on the signs.
We woke up early...ish: 7:30. Normally I'd say that 7:30 is very early for me, but since we probably went to bed around 7:00 last night, I suppose I got enough sleep.
Our first stop this morning was to meet with some of the people from Ingwavuma Orphan Care, where we're staying. We actually briefly met a whole lot of people, since it's a pretty busy place, but mostly we talked to Vee and Thembi. We learned a bit more about IOC, including that they employ about 104 people. This was pretty amazing, considering their “offices” were maybe half the size of my house all total. But then you think that they help about 1800 people in the area with chronic illnesses and another 3000 orphans and the 104 employees doesn't seem like nearly enough.
After that talk and being introduced to a parade of new faces we headed off towards the supermarket. Not wanting to risk our shiny new car on the hazardous dirt driveway of IOC, or the pothole infested roads, we decided to hoof it. The walk was probably about 2 kilometers, but they had hills to rival Madison's worst. We are up in the mountains, after all.
We did a bit of shopping, which was also pretty interesting. The market was well stocked, but most of the brands and items were unfamiliar. We got the basics—ramen, bread, peanut butter, etc. As we loaded our backpacks up we were kind of wishing for the car, but the walk back seemed much quicker. There was also some gorgeous scenery along the way and everyone we saw was very friendly. We tried out some of our limited Zulu and it seemed to please the locals, but about half of them seemed to know English and all of them laughed at was was probably a massacre of their language's pronunciation and grammar.
We got back and made some lunch (ramen with mixed vegetables added in for flavor—delicious after not having eaten a meal for nearly a day). We had another short talk with Thembi, but spent most of the afternoon trying to prepare for our first camp tomorrow. We hammered out a rough schedule and made some posters and name tags for the kids. That was one interesting fact: we'd come here under the impression that we'd have 30 kids for each camp, but there are now nearly 50 each week. While it's wonderful that we're reaching about 40 more kids, we've been trying to work out how to stretch our supplies to account for the increase. It'll be a challenge, but we're certainly getting used to dealing with challenges, and this is a pretty nice one overall.
We also got to meet some of the orphans who are staying here. I don't know exactly why they're here now other than they've been doing some kind of work in a nearby building. I am fairly sure that IOC doesn't actually house any orphans full-time; most orphans in the area live in foster care. For whatever reason, we have fourteen or fifteen young kids (6 to 8 years old?) staying in the rooms next to us. They must have had some free time around 2:00 today when we were talking through our schedule and we got some looks from them. Jessy brought out her camera to take a picture of them (they're adorable!) and it was over after that. They were all so excited to see the camera and the pictures of themselves. A few of them were quite the little flirts, striking poses and stuff for us.
As cute as the kids were, I expect that staying in rooms next to a dozen 8 year olds is going to be an experience.
As it got dark we ate some dinner, which consisted of a slightly more healthy tuna sandwich, orange, and some minestrone soup that wasn't a very good mix or something. By the time we were done eating it was dark enough that we needed flashlights to walk the hundred feet from the kitchen to our rooms. I'm excited to look at the stars one of these nights... I expect they'll be amazing.
That was pretty much our whole day. Hopefully tomorrow's entry will be slightly more exciting. Tomorrow: Camp 1, Day 1!
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